UFC 161's Alexis Davis 'on pins and needles' waiting for one call

WINNIPEG – Alexis Davis can relax now. The waiting game is over. She’s in the UFC.

There was a stretch when she wasn’t quite sure if she’d be part of the first phase of women’s MMA in the promotion, playing one of those cruel waiting games in which you know you’re deserving, but the phone isn’t ringing yet.

But her moment has arrived, and she’ll help make a little history in her home country in the process, fighting in the UFC’s first women’s bout in Canada. Davis (13-5 MMA, 0-0 UFC) meets Rosi Sexton (13-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at UFC 161 on Saturday.

UFC 161 takes place at MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The main card, including Davis vs. Sexton, airs on pay-per-view following FX and Facebook prelims.

“We heard rumors we’d be brought over,” Davis told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “But I was kind of waiting for a call on pins and needles for a while, like, ‘Hmm, what’s going to happen? Maybe they’re going to change their mind and don’t want me to come over.’ And then I got my Invicta fight with Shayna (Baszler) and thought, ‘Maybe they’re waiting to see what happens after this fight. Are they waiting to see if I get a win? Is that going to determine my fate?'”

Davis submitted Baszler in Janaury at Invicta FC 4, her second straight rear-naked choke win for the promotion after a 2-1 run in Strikeforce. And if that’s what the UFC brass was looking for to determine her fate, she did right by them.

“Right after that fight, I got the call from (UFC matchmaker) Sean Shelby,” she said. “On the phone, I was all cool. But as soon as I was off that phone, I was so excited – but I couldn’t quite tell anyone yet. I was screaming. I was so excited.”

But after that call, it was time to get down to business – the business of Rosi Sexton.

Sexton, like Davis, brings a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt to the octagon on Saturday. She also has eight wins in her past nine fights and three straight victories for Cage Warriors. Her only two losses came to Gina Carano and Zoila Frausto Gurgel. It’s not a bad resume, and Davis knows it.

What she doesn’t know, though, is just how this thing will play out against Sexton. If their ground skills cancel each other out, will that mean they’ll stand and trade? Maybe. On either.

“This fight has kind of thrown me for a loop because I’m not sure what’s going to happen,” Davis said. “She’s an aggressive fighter, and she goes for takedowns a lot. For me, I love going to the ground. Is it going to be a standup war? Is it going to go to the ground, where either one of us is going to be comfortable? I’ve just got to make sure I’m prepared for everything because I’m not quite sure what her game plan is going to be.”

And that, of course, is the business of MMA.

Davis is well-versed on the ground. But in the stand-and-trade game, she more than holds her own. Against Sarah Kaufman in March 2012, she lost a close majority decision that left Kaufman feeling the effects of her hands. That fight managed to upstage Ronda Rousey taking Strikeforce’s women’s bantamweight title from Miesha Tate later that night.

And it’s a fight Davis remembers well, despite the loss, because she gets reminded of it often. That’s the same kind of excitement she’s vowing to bring to her new audience in the UFC – and that, she believes, is going to help push women’s MMA even further to the forefront.

“Even coming off the loss to Kaufman, I still had a great fight, and everybody talks about that fight. They love that fight,” Davis said. “Every women’s fight that’s been in the UFC has been highly entertaining. Regardless of who you’re fighting, as long as you put on a good performance, you’re going to get fans. I think it’s a little bit easier because most women’s fights, there’s not usually a dull one there. And most of my fights are pretty entertaining.”

The women’s bantamweight title picture is in a bit of an on-hold position right now as Rousey waits to defend the belt against Tate after “The Ultimate Fighter 18″ wraps in December. After that, previous top contender Cat Zingano might be ready to return from a knee surgery that kept her out of the next title fight.

That means potential contenders like Davis are in a pretty deep queue in the middle. But talk to Davis on Sunday, and if things go well, she’s ready to start lining opponents up to work her way to the position Tate and Zingano currently are in.

“It all hinges on how I perform in the fight,” she said. “But I try to take everything in a positive way, and I think that every fight I’ve had in the past, it just makes me a better fighter. The more fights they give me, the better.”

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